A new program that incorporates ancient Eastern medicine with modern laser technology is promising to help smokers kick the habit.

WPBF 25 News followed one smoker as she tried the procedure in an effort to stop smoking.

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Tommy Sue Pieri, 52, started smoking when she was 15.

"I was smoking with friends, and I thought it was cool back then," Pieri said. "Now it's not cool anymore."

Pieri has been smoking for 37 years -- and she believes she is addicted to nicotine.

"My uncle would come over and he would have those cigarettes with no filters. We would steal his cigarettes, go in the bathroom and smoke them," she said. "And it snowballed from there."

Pieri said she smokes on average a pack of cigarettes a day, but sometimes will smoke as many as three packs a day.

"I've tried the gum, the patches, and nothing helped," she said. "Nothing has worked."

Aside from a persistent cough, shortness of breath and a family history of cancer and heart problems, Pieri has other reasons to stop smoking. She's a volunteer at the American Cancer Society.

"I know, it's very hypocritical," she said. "I'm giving lectures, and I'm telling them about cancer and what cancer does to you, and I'mthinking to myself, 'You ought to be ashamed of yourself. You've gotcigarettes in your purse.'"

Pieri (pictured, right) also is a nurse.

"And I should know better, but I don't," she said.

She also would like to quit as an example to her grandson, Bastion, 11. Pieri and Bastion, struck a deal: He would lose weight if she would lose the cigarettes.

"So this is my last cigarette," she said. "Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Today ... I'm ready to do it! Let's do it!"

Pieri snuffed out her cigarette and tossed it in the trash.

"For Bastion," she said.

Forty-five minutes later, Pieri's body already was needing more nicotine. But she had made an appointment with Laser Concept in West Palm Beach, where she planned to undergo a new process purported to help her beat her addiction -- a medical curve ball not yet popular or federally approved.

Owner Andrew Taylor said the one-time treatment is completely safe and painless.

"You feel nothing from the treatment itself other than a very relaxed,very calming type of feeling," Taylor said. "Most people about an hour after their treatment want to lay down and take a nap."

Taylor said the treatment administers low-level laser therapy is similar to acupuncture, using low-level laser light instead of needles on pressure points on the ear, nose, hand, wrist and forearm.

The laser is said to release endorphins in the body much like smokers get from a nicotine fix.

The goal is to zap the cravings for nicotine and do away with all the physical urges to smoke. Taylor said he has about an 80 percent success rate.

Ninety minutes after the treatment is over, Pieri would normally be desperate for a drag off a cigarette. Is she?

"Not at all. Not at all. No cravings at all," she said. "That's it! I feel good. I can do this!"

Three weeks later, Pieri was still smoke-free. She said all the physical cravings were gone for good.

The treatment costs about $150. It is being studied in clinical trials and is expected to be approved soon by the Food and Drug Administration.